The average rite of passage for average teenagers in many countries comprises of burnt self-cooked meals, messy rented rooms with kinky roomates, and shoe-string budgets that can barely sustain a basic living. That is something most would agree with in nostalgia.
That is something mostly absent in Singapore. Maybe Malaysia too. Or it happened in the past. The reality is that teenagers are leading a trend towards living with their parents straight into their productive adulthood years in this part of the world. Earning a living without paying for a living has enabled many to indulge in an extravagent lifestyle. Instead of tales of eeking out a living with buddies in a rented apartment, we have teenagers living and eating on their parents’ expense.
In fact, it is unheard of to move out of the house before getting married, so youngsters new in the field have a few years to either build up a reserve buffer for turbulent years, or wilther their monthly salary on repaying the interests of credit card debt after splurging on the loan line.
A surprising lot chose the latter. Perhaps it is the lack of experiencing a penniless situation, or they are confident of maintaining their 9 to 5 jobs, but I have seen friends who spend money without saving up for the future. A good many may regret their chosen lifestyle when their salaries can no longer keep with with the monthly minimum repayment.
I am no less guilty of this as well. I currently work in a temporary position while studying to become a writer. The amount I receive monthly would be left untouched if I didn’t get tied down with both 2 year mobile and cable Internet subscriptions. Cutting the fast food from weekend excursions, or at least reducing it would allow a fair amount of reserves to accumulate.
It wouldn’t have been enough to use in an emergency, but certainly useful to help start off a business. At least it would have been better to tide off a temporary poor economical situation.
My impulse buying didn’t start recently. Back in school, I starved myself during break time to save up for cute erasers and ink pens with colourful cartoon characters imprinted on cheap-feeling plastic casings — at least this was what I thought when I saw them again after taking them out of years of storage. During the times when I didn’t have a target item in mind, I continued saving mindlessly, always telling myself that I needed to fill up the piggy bank back at home.
A few days later, I would see a new craze around the school, and spend the hard-saved money to join in the fun. People who had their parents buy them their toys thought that I was rich, but nothing could be further than the truth: My friends were surprised by my innocuous outlook when I splurged $10 on the spot for a Digimon game when it first came out. What they didn’t know was that the $10 was the result of more than 2 weeks of saving my $1 pocket money a day, whereas they pulled out crisp $10 notes at the cashiers.
The buying spree came to a head back when I was in secondary 4. I had just finished my GCE “O” levels, and had 3 months of free time, since I didn’t plan on going for the first 3 months of JC, as there would be another admission for everybody based on the O level results in March. I found work at a refrigeration plant in Bedok, and went into a work frenzy.
At that time, my bank account started to bloat from a base $2000 to $6000 at its peak. I took all available overtime work, and learned voraciously at the company. Even my boss was impressed that Singaporeans could actually work that hard (90% of the workers in the refrigeration plant were Malaysians), and had wanted to convert my contract directly under the company. At that time, I felt that I could buy the world.
I bought a Nokia 8310 when I saw a colleague totting one. It was another snap decision. That day after work, I marched into the nearest mobile phone shop, and bought one for $596 without bargaining nor comparing prices. Take, swipe, and go. Many impulse users like me soon complained about the phone, when it decided to crash during phone calls and SMS, and I must say that it has been my most regretful buy ever.
If we actually stopped and considered properly our purchase decisions, I’m sure that we would have far fatter bank accounts, and more hungry banks grovelling at our feet than if we actually converted our cash into rash decisions. Worse if the product turns out like my Nokia 8310 (which I lost later during my National Service days!).
We would perhaps have a simpler lifestyle, keeping each other in easy company, instead of fighting over money.
Don’t you think?